


An Angel's Love

by Lady_Of_Paper_7



Series: An Angel's Love [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels, M/M, What Happend To "Stop Hurting Cas 2k16"?, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:56:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8021788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Of_Paper_7/pseuds/Lady_Of_Paper_7
Summary: Waking up in an empty bed is never a pleasant thing. (– unless you went to bed alone in the first place and actually expected to wake up like that too, of course.) Especially when you did fall asleep curled up with your boyfriend (of over one year now) and he had neither told you that he’d get up earlier than you nor had left a note or woken you up to tell you, he’d be gone in the morning.So imagine Dean Winchester’s surprise when he did wake up all alone in his and Castiel’s bed one morning.





	1. A Pleasant Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: Important: THIS takes place after "Sleepless In Kansas" but, as I wrote it, it got rather dramatic and if that's not your thing, you do not have to read this in order to read (possible) sequels, which will be less dramatic.

Waking up in an empty bed is never a pleasant thing. (– unless you went to bed alone in the first place and actually expected to wake up like that too, of course.) Especially when you did fall asleep curled up with your boyfriend (of over one year now) and he had neither told you that he’d get up earlier than you nor had left a note or woken you up to tell you, he’d be gone in the morning.

So imagine Dean Winchester’s surprise when he _did_ wake up all alone in his and Castiel’s bed – the one they’d finally decided to buy after numerous nights that had ended with either (or sometimes even both) of them on the floor at some point  because no matter how tightly they were wrapped around one another, the original twin-sized bed that had come with the bunker’s bedroom simply was not supposed to fit two grown men (one monster-hunter and an angel of the Lord) – one morning.

“Cas?”, the hunter called after he’d finally sat up, stretched his back and swung his legs out of the bed. It’s not like he _depended_ on waking up next to his angel every morning/noon; he had not turned that pansy since he’d gotten together with him after all, and the rational part of his brain _was_ aware of the fact that it wasn’t necessary to be worried about Cas’ absence – he was a goddamn angel after all and probably should have more important stuff on his plate than spending all of his time with the brothers – but the three of them had a couple of rather unsettling weeks, with a lot of shit that had happened to them, especially to Cas, behind them – never mind their whole lives – and… he simply felt calmer knowing where Cas was or, at least, knowing when he would be back. Approximately.  

“Hey, Sammy?”, he asked when he entered their kitchen, tying the belt of his robe loosely over his baggy sweat pants and washed out shirt – which smelled a lot of Castiel since they usually simply shared Dean’s clothes (after that one time the hunter had tried to go shopping with his angel they’d decided that he could keep his one set of clothing and take whatever else he needed from his boyfriend).

“Yeah?”, his brother handed him a cup of coffee without really taking his eyes off the screen his lap top and went back to reading once he only had his own mug in his hands, absently  stirring it while he opened up a new article.

“You’ve seen Cas?”

“What, he’s not with you?”, Sam raised his eyebrows and finally looked up to the older hunter directly.

“Obviously”, Dean muttered, slumping down opposite from his brother and peeked into the box filled with donuts that served as breakfast, “so, you know where he is?”

“Haven’t seen him since yesterday”

“Hm”

“You guys had a fight or anything?”

“No. I just… he wasn’t there when I woke up…- shut it Sam”

“I’d just never have taken you for the clingy kind, ya’know”

“Shut. It.”

“C’mon”, Sam kept on grinning but turned his focus back on his laptop while his brother silently drummed his fingers against the surface of the table.

“Watcha reading anyway?”

“O, I just heard some rumors about strange happenings a couple of towns away, kinda sounds like it’s got something to do with witches”, Sam frowned a little at his computer, “that’s pretty weird”

“That’s surprising.”

“It’s just… never mind, I’ll tell you if there’s anything about it”

“Fine”

“And you’re…?”, he asked the older hunter a couple of minutes later when he kept on blankly staring ahead of him in tapping his finger against the rim of his cup.

“Sitting here ‘n lookin’ hot”

“The car could use a wash”

“You’re a bossy bitch, you know that?”, Dean rolled his eyes but pushed himself up and dragged his feet over to the door.

“Dean”, Sam called after him with raised eyebrows.

“What?”

“Uhm, clothes?”

“Nah, ’m fine like that”, his brother waved him off whilst finally leaving the room and Sam silently shook his head and continued to read, “’m gonna be real glad when Cas’ back.”


	2. Albatus Noctis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's point of view switches from Dean's to Castiel's. Both points of view take place simultaneously.   
> I tried to write it down reasonably and I hope, you can understand everything; if you think it's confusing, please just contact me, or write it down in the comments and I try to change it, okay? I realy hope, you'll enjoy it <3

“Cas, seriously _where are you_? It’s been a freaking _week_. I don’t know-“, Dean scrubbed the palms of his hands over his face, he really could use a proper shave (according to his little brother that along with a shower) but ever since Cas had taken off without saying anything he had scarcely left the bunker nor had there been much more on his mind than the angel’s absence, “whether I said or did anything that hurt you or- dunno- Cas, I really- please _just tell me what’s up_ ”, the hunter sighed and let himself fall backwards against the mattress, rolled onto his side and buried his face in the blankets and pillows, only halfheartedly expecting his angel to just randomly show up next to him.

Which of course he didn’t.

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_Waking up all alone might not be the most pleasant thing on earth, everybody could agree on that._

_Just as everybody would agree that there were plenty ways of starting the day, way worse than that._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “Damnit, Cas”, he sighed tiredly, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, his head feeling like the skull was slowly constricting, ever so slowly and steadily tightening in around  his brain until it would be squeezed to a useless clump. He knew that he was acting overdramatically; Castiel had every right to do whatever he wanted to do and be wherever he wanted to be and did not have to tell Dean everything.

Except he usually always did; he told his boyfriend what he was up to, and if he didn’t do that because it was a special, heavenly task, he at least informed him that he would be gone and how long.

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_Being summoned out of bed for example_.

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 

 “Hey, Dean!”, his little brother yelled some time later and the hunter groaned again.

“What?”, he called back but the door of his room was already being pushed open and Sam waltzed through, hair sticking out in numerous odd angles and the buttons on his shirt not quite correctly done up.

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_Although it’s damn near impossible to just ‘summon’ yourself an angel: you had to be ridiculously powerful to even establish contact to one. On a good day._

_If – and we’re talking about a_ huge if _here – you happened to approach a seraph who was willing to answer you and fulfill your wish to come, the amount of power it would take to call for him/her was enough to knock… almost everyone out or might even kill them._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“I found something”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_Apparently this didn’t seem to apply to a certain woman, currently sitting in an impossibly ugly armchair, her back straight and tall, not nearly touching the lean of the chair, and her head held high so her piercing gaze could overlook the whole, almost completely empty store house hall._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“What the hell do you want?”, Dean snarled into the mattress, not moving an inch, his hands balling into fists, clutching the sheets within them, “Get outta here ‘n leave me alone”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_“Who-who are you? What is this place?”, Castiel asked hoarsely, his voice barely audible over his ragged breathing, blue eyes not succeeding in their attempt to completely open up._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Dean, it’s- it might be about Cas”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_Castiel had lived for a couple of thousand years now, had supervised more attacks and wars against countless different enemies than he could count, had fought in even more._

_He had been hurt, tortured, cursed and even been killed and rebuild again numerous times (and a lot more often since he’d met the Winchesters) and yet he had never once felt worse in his live than he did now. As he, gasping and almost passing out again because of the unimaginable pain throbbing through every part, every vein of his body, pushed himself up from the cold, dirty floor, only to be stopped by heavy, rusty iron shackles not only tying but also weighing him down to the filthy cement before he even managed to get to his knees halfway._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Dean?”, Sam asked quietly when his brother sat up at once but didn’t say another word, only looking at his little brother, his eyes daring him to go on.

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_“Not even fully awake, yet already asking question after question”, the middle aged woman, who was still perched almost on the very edge of her seat, chimed in a painfully  cheerful sort of voice, tipping her head forwards still – as if she wanted to make sure to get a good look at the badly injured angel tied to the floor in front of her- before she folded one leg over the other in an overdramatic movement, let herself collapse backwards against the plushy lean of the arm chair and stuck a cigarette, which she’d pulled out of the sleeve of her wide, broadly patterned dress, in between her full red lips, lighting its tip with a loud, cracking snap of her fingers._

_Her dark, dark eyes did not once leave Castiel’s disheveled form as she slowly, almost teasingly, sucked on the other end of her gleaming cancer stick before finally exhaling quite a large cloud of nearly snow-white smoke into the stale, chilly air of the storehouse._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“You remember those strange sightings, changes of weather, freak-accidents and disappearances a couple of towns over, I told you about last week?”, Sam squirmed slightly under his brothers glare but stood his ground.

“What about ‘em? As far as I remember, we checked them out and there wasn’t anything, like _anything supernatural in that town_ , just weird coincidence”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

****

_If Castiel had not felt like he’d just been thoroughly chewed and spit out again, he might have raised an eyebrow at the overly flamboyant behavior of his hijacker but, circumstances being as they were, he merely attempted to maneuver his weary body into a sitting positon once more, which he failed badly at – the shackles that were tightly attached to his ankles, wrists and shoulders keeping him securely tied to the ground._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Turns out”, the younger hunter shook his head, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck, “it wasn’t coincidence”

“Naturally”, Dean grumbled and rolled his eyes but his stomach churned uncomfortably and his mouth went dry.

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“Oh, you want to get up?”, she asked in a sing song voice as the angel eventually had to put an end to his struggles against his bindings and grudgingly settled for collapsing back  onto the disgusting floor, his face and whole front pressed flush against the cold stone and the shackles seemingly still pulling him further down, his mouth open and gasping for breath, “you could have just asked, you know”, she continued, laughing an incredibly unpleasant, high-pitched laugh, snapping her fingers a second time._

_The heavy iron chains rose into the air, their weight – for a mere second – lifting off the angel until they’d ascended so high that Castile ended up balancing on the very tips of his toes by the time they’d attached themselves to some rusty looking hooks hanging down from the roof of the hall, the iron tied to his wrists seemingly still pulling him higher, the iron tied to his feet pulling him down._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“So , if it’s no coincidence”, he finally asked, dreading the answer, “what’s it then?”, he got to his feet and went past Sam out of the room, since his brother already had a duffel bag thrown over his shoulder and was fully dressed for a hunt. And, surely enough, Sam followed him on his way out of the bunker and to his car but snatched the keys out of the elder hunter’s grasp and climbed into the driver’s seat himself while Dean actually complied and settled for riding shotgun – he neither new where exactly they had to go, nor whether he’d be able to get them there more or less safely because there was nothing on his mind besides his worry about Castiel and if Sam noticed that his brother’s not behaving like he normally would, they didn’t talk about that, but about what he’d found out.

The ride would take about three hours, Sam remembered and that’s enough time to talk Dean through everything and to think about what they’re going to do when they’d arrived and if Sam’s right and Cas was there and in trouble.

And if Sam was right, then they didn’t have any time to spare anyway.

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“These”, the witch said in an adoring voice while Castiel clenched his teeth and chocked back a scream - because if he hadn’t hurt all over already he would have now as his aching muscles (and everything else really) were steadily stretched farther and farther – and trailed one, slender hand lovingly along the chain nearest to her – which was the one that secured the angel’s left ankle to a unyielding looking metal ring near his feet, the rest of it curling on the ground and beside the witch’s chair like a lazy, metallic snake – “beauties are not made out of ordinary metal by the way. Although”, she smiled and fluttered her lashes at him sweetly. “a smart thing like you’d probably already guessed that. They’re made of iron, compounded with –“_

_“-the dust of angel-feathers”, Castiel croaked, his head feeling as if it was about to break in half and his spine, along with every other bone in his body wincing in agony, “there-there is no name for this substance now because…”_

_“Because it’s not known by humankind and yours”, she smirked coolly, “believes it to be gone and banished and has, therefore, almost forgotten about it.”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

_“_ It’s an Albatus Nocits”, Sam finally told his brother, once they’d turned onto the main road, taking his eyes off the road for a second to look at him.

“Come again?”

“An Albatus Noctis, which is Latin and roughly translates to ‘Angel of the night’. It’s-“

“That doesn’t sound like an actual thing but like a hooker”, Dean snorted and Sam raised his eyebrows.

“It’s not supposed to be an actual thing either; the chances of one existing are about cero percent”

“Yikes. Good for us”

“…not really”

“Of freaking course”

“It’s …a, holy creature touched by evil- I’ll come back to that”, Sam added, knowing that his brother was about to interrupt him, “You remember the complete absence of anything paranormal in that town?”

“Yeah… we thought that was a good thing though.”

“Normally it would be. But in this case, that should have been our first warning. An Albatus Noctis is so powerful, uniting pure good and pure evil, that it doesn’t tolerate _any_ competition.”

“Like every powerful being there is”, Dean silently deadpanned but the other hunter ignored him.

“From their very first moment in a new place they start drawing anything unnatural towards them. But not for, like bringing them under and securing a top spot in the foot chain, but to… feast upon them.”

“You mean feast as in, you know, _feast_?”, Dean swallowed drily and was suddenly very glad that he hadn’t really eaten anything above the absolute minimum since Cas had vanished because Sam nodded.

“They like lure one creature after the other in, take what they need and then get rid of what’s left, usually by fire or something.”

“ _How exactly_ do they ‘take what they need’?”

“…I don’t _exactly_ know but if I had to guess, I’d say maybe something like absorption”

“This just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it.”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

  _The reason why the metal, although its powers are unique and far from weak, was no longer used was the fact, that to manufacture it, the amount of iron and feather-dust used compounded had to be the exact same. Also, do the feathers have to come from one angel and, unless you did not want more metal than was sufficient for the manufacture of a necklace, the amount of feathers that had to be taken from the angel, who was used as source, was so great that even an arch-angel’s wings would suffer permanent damage._

 _For the wings_ were _strong and powerful but also sensitive and, apart from their grace, the most precious thing an angel had in stall. Yet, if properly made, the metal was usually used to make shackles or bars from. Sometimes even armor because, since  parts of the ingredients had belonged to a living thing and had then complied to every and any of said living thing’s orders, the final substance also complied to its creator; if it was used for armor, no weapon could pierce it, if it was used for traps, no one and nothing could escape it. And if the trap was designed to bring pain to its inhabitant, it surely did; causing them pain just by touching their skin and letting them everything, their capturer wanted them to feel, feel._

_“I assume, your kin has not forgotten about it then”_

_Keeping silent would do nothing about the pain, never mind easing it, so Castiel could at least try to gather some information for… for later._

_To bring back to Dean._

_He would surely appreciate knowing whose ass to bust._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “Tell me about it”, Sam agreed, biting his lips because: “and there’s something else still”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“O, there is no kin of mine, you know. There’s only me”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Sammy, I swear to-“

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“Albatus Noctis”, Castiel slowly let the words slide of his tongue, squinting his bright blue eyes._

_“Name’s Marry”, she blew him a kiss but he merely continued; “I thought there were none of you left”_

_“Just this one here. My dear human mother hooked up with one of you back in her day”_

_“And…?”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “This thing”, Sam swallowed drily, readjusting his hands on the steering wheel, “Is probably part angel and-“

“How does ‘part angel’ even _work_? How do you even _know_ all that?”

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

_“Daddy didn’t stay around too long after momma kicked the bucket and he really wasn’t the fatherly type so he dropped me off at the orphanage, wrote me a sweet letter and well”, she smacked her lips, “couple of years later I found myself some_ nice, nice _black eyes who taught me lots of handy stuff”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 

“I asked Gabriel for help when Cas didn’t show up for five days straight and he dug up this thing, which I’d never have found out about otherwise. He’ll be waiting for us there”, Sam cleared his throat, ignoring the look his brother shoot him and continued; “We think it’s some sort of angel-human-hybrid. There’s stories about angels and humans having kids, not that many and all of them pretty vague, but there are and our theory’s that some of these hybrids sooner or later engage with demons or witchcraft and then become, you know-what”

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

_“I see”, Castiel winced quietly and the witch grinned menacingly at him, “but what do you need me for then?”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “Do you two also happen to know how to kill this thing?”

“Gabriel said he’d work something out”

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

_“_ You _, I don’t need for much. More something_ from _you, angel”_

_“And you could not just have asked?”, he weakly asked._

_“With your hunter-buddies? Nah, I think this was easier. Gave me time to properly look at you at least”, Marry grinned again, “should probably not have used that much power on the spell though, had you laying here for almost a week”, she was cut in by Castiel crying out loudly and grinned wider, lowering her hand with which she’d just signaled the restraints, attached to the angels shoulders, to rise up further” now. Everything alright?”_

_“_ What do you want? _”, the angel spit out, his back attempting to ache on instinct but was prevented by the shackles, turning every and any move into an impossible martyrdom when he finally became aware of the fact that the hooks of the, once again, arising shackles were not, in fact, securing his shoulders but were placed behind them, hooked through the base of each of his wings._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “ _Gabriel_ said he’d work something out.”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“Something, I can only get from you, Castiel, or should I rather say; disgrace of heaven?”_

 

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 

“That he did”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“This is not about”, Castiel gasped, his eyes now completely shut and his head dropping down, “Dean and me, is it? How could that possibly be of your concern?”_

 

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 

“That’s just great.”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

_“It really isn’t”, Marry chuckled, shifting around in her seat to be more comfortable whilst watching the angel twitch and seize, “my apologies for offending you,” she bowed her head mockingly, “you just happen to be one of the only angels people know about to have fallen in love”_

_“So?”, Castiel forced his head back up; he could live with this witch breaking every bone in his body but he would not have her talk about Dean._

_“An Albatus Noctis doesn’t possess the same powers as angels. We’re more powerful than demons and certainly more powerful than humans or ghosts but can’t come close to you, feathery fold. And, faintly,”, she stretched her back lazily, “I’m tired of it. And to do something about it, I need you to give your love for that hunter of yours to me, so I can turn it into my own grace and leave this here”, she gestured around the abandoned store house, “behind me”_

_“I will_ never _-“_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “Dean…”

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

 _“Bad news; I’ve been waiting almost seventy-nine years for this opportunity and if you don’t give it to me on your own accord, I’ll rip every single feather of yours out and let them rain down on you after I’ve ripped you apart and leave, what little’ll be left of you covered in them. If you don’t believe me”, the witch finally stopped grinning, her face now set as she had the chain give a hard, abrupt tug that had Castiel screaming in his mother tongue, “_ Try _me.”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

 “Sam just-“, Dean wearily shook his head whilst pinching the bridge of his nose, “later, okay?”

“Alright, man”

 

 


	3. Bite Me.

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

_Ever since Castiel had woken up, bruised, kind of miserable and tied down to the cold, filthy floor of an empty, abounded store house he’d been sort of occupied by discovering who’d gotten him into this situation and being given a taste, of what he was going to go through, if he didn’t give up his resistance and let the witch, who’d captured and bound him, take what she wanted. So it wasn’t surprising that it took him a couple of hours to become aware of the fact that he not only was not able to communicate with any of his brothers or sisters but also was completely cut off from Dean. Which had never been the case since he’d rescued him out of hell and rebuild him._

_And although, he wasn’t surprised that the shackles, he was bound with, not only kept him from moving but also put an end to the rest of his abilities, he felt the last thread of hope, he’d barely managed to hold on to, quiver dangerously._

_“What’s the matter, angel?”, Marry chimed, lowering her hand and the chains stopped tearing at his wings for a second and Castiel could have cried at how good the lack of absolute agony felt. Either that or thrown up because if he’d thought he knew pain, he had been mistaken._

_“Bite me”, he finally growled after he’d caught his breath, spitting out a mouth full of blood, “and I did not mean that literally”_

_“What a pity”, the witch sighed and raised her hand once more and Castiel cried out in pain, his back arching in a semi-impossible angle, even against the bounding. He believed he could hear the sound of something cracking._

_“Devoted guys like you…I much rather had someone who’d given me what I want instantly. It’s not like you’d miss anything.”_

_Castiel wanted - oh, he wanted to – to disagree, wanted to rage at that woman, not only for what she’d done - and was still doing - to him but for her ignorance, her lack of caring whatsoever. He could feel more blood tickling down his chin, could feel his body bleeding from various other wounds and cuts and throbbing form having been bound with those shackles for numerous days._

_“It’s not like”, she added sweetly getting out of her seat and crossed the small distance between them until she stood so close to the angel that he could feel her breath on her face, “your hunter would know the difference anyway. Or that he’d care for that matter.”_

_If it had been Dean, instead of Castiel here, he’d probably have spit into her face, and vocally cursed her and everybody she’d ever known._

_Because she yanked at the chains anyway, and the angel surely felt as if she was tearing his wings out already. He didn’t know, how much longer he would be able to last -but h_ e _would_ NOT. Betray. Dean.

_At least he hoped so._

_He hoped so dearly._

_“Please”, he whispered hoarsely, his voice almost gone. There was not one inch of his body left that was not screaming in agony and he knew, that he was not going to last much longer for sure, when finally, the whole room lightened up as his wings became fully visible – which only ever happened when an angel died or wasn’t far from it anymore._

_They were, however, not made out of pure light and shadow as usual but battered, torn shapes stretching around him and filling up the space between him and the walls on either side of him, “_ please _”_

 _“O_ dear Lord _”, Marry collapsed backwards into her seat dramatically – yet ignoring the actual sight of the wings – like every angel or demon she had been able to see them ever since she’d first laid eyes on Castiel and the fact that they were now visible for everybody else too was not something she found herself particularly caring about - giving the restraints another good tug and calmly talking over the screams that followed, “not THAT again.”_

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Finally!”, Gabriel called, pushing himself off wall he was leaning against, striding over to brothers who were just exciding their car, “what on earth took you so long?”

“Shut-“, Dean growled back but the younger hunter cut him off; “You found them, Gabe?”

“You bet”, the archangel nodded his head into the direction of a terribly ramshackle building down the street.

“Having everybody think you’re dead comes in handy from time to time”, he added with a dismissive wave of his hand when the hunters shoot him  – in Sam’s case approving, in Dean’s doubting – looks, “which is also what will help us, when we bust Cas out- no one  except us here knows that there’s an arch angel left, so the Albatus Noctis did not set up any particular safety measures against archangels, which will make it a lot easier for us to get inside”

“If we were taking that long”, Dean said in a slightly pissed off voice while they started walking towards the huge, ruinous building, looming over them in the short distance like a bad, bad cliché, “and if it was that easy for you to just safe the day, why didn’t you just go in there and did so?”, they broke into a run while Dean said the last words, finishing the last meters.

“I said, she didn’t set up particular safety measures against me, but she would have sensed me if I’d come to too close before you came here, which wouldn’t have been ideal, would it now?”, Gabriel somehow managed to show of each and every one of his teeth as he grinned at the shorter hunter mockingly and they grouped around the back door of the store house.

“What now?”, Same asked, handing one gun he’d taken from his duffel bag over to his brother and taking one for himself.

“You two get in there first. One of you gets over to Cas and tries to get him out as fast as possible, he won’t be in a good shape”, as on cue, they could her screams from inside the building and Dean was so close to just storm in there blindly but the others held him back, “I guess that’ll be you”, he looked at Dean, who grudgingly stepped back but nodded his head, “Sam, you try to take out the Albatus Noctis, it looks like a woman in her mid-twenties, long brown hair, real ugly dress.”

“And you are…?”, Dean asked whilst making sure his gun was ready.

“I”, Gabriel stopped smiling completely, “come in when she’s already occupied with the two of you and finish her off however I can.”

“…sounds reasonable”, Sam nodded and his brother had to agree.

“You ready then?”

They both nodded.

“Good”, the archangel smiled again but this time it was a cold menacing smile that had the brothers look away from him rather quickly, “on the count of three”

He counted the numbers down and with a click of his fingers, the iron door opened quietly and, when the hunters turned towards him again, he was gone.

“…I have to admit-” they heard a definitely female voice when they steeped over the threshold and for a second they stopped dead in their tracks because they thought she was talking to them but then she continued and they continued to edge further into the almost empty hall;

 

**_~~~~~~~ Castiel ~~~~~~~_ **

 

 _“-that I’m slowly but surely getting tired of this”, Marry said now, her anger barely sugar coated anymore and the hand she had raised slightly trembling, her fingers twitched and the angel’s cries almost overlapped the renewed_ cracks _; “I_ tried _to make this easy for you but you are simply being stubborn and I_ do not _have time for this now. I won’t-“, she twisted her wrist again and Castiel’s voiced died down to a groan, his face now tear streamed, his whole body shaking and this time he could_ feel _his wings giving a jerk against his back._

_But then a new voice cut the witch off; “Damn right you won’t, you little bitch!”_

_And there he had it, Castiel thought dreadfully, allowing his head to collapse forwards fully and the tears to run down his cheeks freely, because that was the only thing he was able to do, now he’d finally lost it; he was imagining his boyfriend’s voice. And of course he did that now, when he’d been pushed right to his breaking point, but not even_ Dean _would manage timing that perfectly._

 _And apparently Marry had sensed him losing it too because she was turning away from the angel and answered the insult -seemingly letting her concentration slip because the chains did not stop_ yanking _at him, but slacked a tiny bit at it._

_But Castiel wasn’t listening anymore, he would not torture himself further by imagining Dean coming here and saving him only to discover his foolishness straight afterwards. So, he concentrated on everything else, besides the pain and the imagined conversation and the sound of two sets of feet running through the hall._

_“Cas?” he still thought he’d  hear Dean’s voice a little while later but didn’t even attempt to move an inch; he would not give that to the witch, he_ would not _._

 _“Cas, baby, can you hear me?”, now he also thought, he was feeling someone cupping his face, but the touch was so gentle that it was easy to pretend to not have felt it at all; “damn it, Castiel”, the-the voice…_ Dean’s _voice sounded as if he was about to cry too, “Come on, come on, please show me those beautiful eyes of yours.”_

_“D-Dean?”, Castile croaked so silently, he was sure no one could hear it – so it wouldn’t be so bad if he was only answering an imagined voice; if no one heard then there was no prove._

_“Thank god”, Dean gasped, carefully cupping his angel’s face properly between the palms of his hands and ever so slowly lifted it upwards so he could look at him properly._

_“Baby, we’ll get you outta here, you hear? You’re almost done”_

_Looking at this beautiful, beautiful face had never once made Dean angrier than he was in that moment; all color had drained from his boyfriend’s skin, he was bleeding in various places, some of it steadily dripping out of mouth over his pale lips and chin in a thin, yet steady, flow. There was not one inch of pale skin that wasn’t smeared with blood, tears or dirt or bruised up or both and he was still crying severely._

_“Okay..., how do I get these off you?”, Dean mumbled quietly, grudgingly taking his eyes off Castiel’s to have a look at his restraints. Behind them, they could still hear Sam and Gabriel fighting the Albatus Noctis._

_“You-you won’t be-“, the angel’s hoarse voice was cut off by another familiar voice saying; “like_ **that** _”, and a loud ‘_ snap’.

 _Gabriel was standing on Dean’s left hand side, his hand still curled up in the aftermath of the click of his fingers and the heavy shackles each gave a loud, gravely squeak as they opened – the hooks which had been stuck through the base of his wings coming free with a sickening sound accompanied by Castiel crying out once more - and the angel outright collapsed forwards into his hunter’s arms who carefully caught him and then tightly hugged him to his chest, trying to make sure, he would not accidently touch the abused feathers, Castiel’s feet not quiet_ standing on _, but rather_ dangling against _the filthy floor._

 _Actually,_ TWO _Gabriels  – one standing on either side of Dean – said that in perfect unison before they high fived and run back to the rest of Gabriel’s doubles and Sam who apparently finally managed to overthrow the Albatus Noctis._

**~~~~~~~ Dean ~~~~~~~**

“Guys?”, Dean called as he finally cradled his angel his arms, the tips of his wings brushing against the walls and above the floor, while his eyes followed every movement of the rather un-even fight.

“Go on back to the”, Sam started, dodging a well-aimed punch against his shoulder, “impala. We’ll meet you”, he ducked so one of the Gabriels around him could slap the Albatus Noctis’ hand away and another one could catch it and twist it behind her back, “there!”

“Okay, come on, Cas”, he whispered although he rather carried than walked him out of the storage hall, trying to make sure, his wings would not suffer any further damage.

“Cas”, he repeated when he sat his angel– who was still trembling terribly - down on the hood, stepped in between his legs, one hand carefully placed on one side of his waist, the other one cupping his face and carefully tipped it backwards again, “is there anything I can do? –Never mind that, Gabriel’s coming too and he’ll”, Dean swallowed drily and wet his lips; “he’ll …patch you up, okay baby?”

“You’re-you’re -here”, Castiel sniffled quietly and the hunter pursed his lips, looped one arm around the small of his back and hugged him close again, nuzzling his nose in his soft, messy streaks while he gently rubbed his nape with the tips of his fingers, “’course I’m here, Cas”

“Dean”, the angel’s hands twitched slightly against Dean’s stomach, “I-“

“Dean”, Sam called as he jogged over to his brother and his boyfriend, “Gabe’ll come here in a sec”

“You’re bleeding”, Dean commented the blood trickling down Sam’s left shoulder from in between the fingers of his right hand, absently, softly ruffling his angel’s - who was silently hiccupping into his shoulder - night black hair and continued to silently whisper to him, while he help him close.

“Want me to take care of that?”, he then asked, adding a mouthed; ‘Say something and you’re gonna regret it’ into the general direction of his little brother.

“I’ll just wait for-“

“Well, that’s nice”, Gabe chimed from behind the younger hunter as he closed up with them and touched the tips of his fingers to his forehead, “There ya go, kid”

“Thanks”, Sam slowly straightened up, every scratch and bruise now cleaned off his skin, “…Dean?”

“yeah, yeah”, Dean mumbled before he slowly let go of his angel but laced their fingers after he’d stepped aside to let Gabe to him.

“Okay now, little bro”, the archangel muttered, a lot more earnestly on instant as he repeated his earlier actions by laying his hand against his brother’s brow and clearing away all visible cuts bruises and traces of blood, tears and dirt “let me see your wings”, he added in a softer voice and, along with Dean, helped him off the hood of the impala and turn around, “not gonna lie, this _is gonna_ hurt”, he warned him without a trace of sarcasm in his voice, carefully placing his hands on the base of each wing.

“Dean”, he said silently and the hunter lifted up Castiel’s hands to place them on his shoulders, so he’d be able to clutch onto them, resting his own on either side of his boyfriend’s hips.

“Cover your eyes”, he then advised the hunters before he started pushing against the wings, his voice a silent, steady flow of Enochian words over the sound his brothers cries, until the wings lightened up for the second time that day this tie lighting up the night for a moment - and disappeared again and Castiel slumped forwards against Dean’s chest.

“You can look again”, Gabriel eventually informed them in a rough sort of voice.

“Is he gonna be alright?”, Sam asked quietly as he opened the door to the impala’s backseat, so Dean could lift Castiel’s unconscious body into the car and climb in afterwards.

“Should be”, Gabriel yawned, his skin a lot more grey than usually, collapsing into the passenger seat, “just don’t leave him on his own for some time”, he added as Sam took his own seat, started the car and drove off, the only sounds during the three-hour-drive Dean whispering soothing words to Cas while he held him close and stroked his hair out of his face.


	4. Sleep is(n’t necessarily) for the weak

“Dean”, Sam Winchester called very silently from where he stood, leaned up against the doorframe of his brother’s bedroom, “hey, Dean”

Finally, the elder hunter looked up from where he was sitting on a stool beside his and Castiel’s bed; hunched over the edge, with his arms folded on the mattress with his chin resting upon them, watching each and any of his boyfriend’s moves – which mostly consisted in his chest slowly rising and falling and him shifting from one side to the other from time to time, muttering in his sleep - his lids heavy and almost closing over his eyes.

“Don’t you think you should get some rest yourself?”

“I’m-I’m-“, Dean yawned loudly and stretched his back, his joints popping audibly before he settled back down, gently brushing his fingers above the knuckles of his angel’s left hand when he quietly groaned and tossed his head to the side, in his sleep, “Fine. Wide fricking a-awake”

“Dean, I’m sure Cas wouldn’t mind you sleeping for an hour or two”

“ **I** would. And I‘m not leaving him until he’s better”

“It’s been almost three days, Dean. He’ll be okay, he’s looking better already. And you’ve been up for about 50 hours now.”

“So?”

“I could sit with him for a while, if you wanted-“

“ _No_ ”

“But-“

“You won’t stop with that, will you?”, Dean reluctantly pushed himself into a sitting positon again and glared at his brother – who’d, along with Gabriel, had spent the last days digging up every spell, rune and protective sign they could find in order to make the bunker safe and prevent one of them getting snatched out of it again - albeit weakly since his lids kept slipping shut and each time they blinked open again, opening less and less.

“No”

“Two hours. And if he’s-“

“If anything changes, I’ll get you as fast as I can”

“Fine”, Dean sighed, got up and dragged his feet out of the room – yet not without softly pressing his lips against the angel’s forehead first, “I’ll crash in your room then”, he - rather quietly as not to bother Castiel – called over his shoulder.

“Whatever you want”, Sam called back – in about the same volume - sitting down on the other hunter’s previous spot.

“Hey, Cas”, he said silently, propping his elbow against his thigh and rested his chin in the palm of his hand, “’m not sure, if you’re even listening right now but…”, he cut himself off, when Castiel mumbled something, he didn’t understand under his breath, “I just hope, you’ll be back with us soon, man.”

~~~~~~~

When Castiel finally stirred, another two days had passed and Dean was once again sitting next to him on the rather uncomfortable stool, slumped over the edge of the bed with his fingers slowly stroking up and down his angel’s forearm.

“Hey, baby”, Dean beamed at him when his bright blue eyes fluttered open and he blinked a couple of times to get them focused again before he looked straight at his boyfriend.

“H-hello, Dean”, Castiel muttered, smiling back rather weakly before he frowned, “You are too far away”

“Classy”, the hunter scoffed softly but did push himself up to his feet, rounded the bed - since Castiel was currently occupying its left half – and carefully laid down next to his angel on his side, placing his hand on his boyfriend’s hip.

“I’m so freaking glad, I got ya back, you got no idea”, Dean mumbled softly, trailing his hand up his angel’s side and pressed his lips into his raven black hair, cupping his jaw.

“I do not particularly mind it either”, Castiel’s eyes had slipped shut again and involuntarily snuggled closer to Dean– who very carefully slung his other arm around his boyfriend’s waist and hugged him to his chest, “I love you, Dean, I really, really do”

“I love you too, Cas”, the hunter whispered into Cas’ ear, “hey, sh”, he added when his angel brought his hands up too fast to wrap his arms around Dean’s neck– groaning quietly as his still sore muscles complained at that, “what is it, Cas?”

“I-I will tell you later”, Castiel muttered, trying to push closer to him still.

“Okay, Baby, whatever you want”, Dean kissed his forehead again, gently rubbing his hand in between his shoulder blades and held him as close as he could until he some of the tension left his body and he slightly relaxed in his arms, “but you _will_ tell me eventually, won’t you?”

“I promise”

“Maybe you should try to sleep some more first”, the hunter then muttered quietly when he could feel Castiel’s arms quiver and felt his whole body tremble.

“Would-would you mind staying with me?”

“You got now idea, how much I’d mind that”, Dean said under his breath, “just one second”, and rolled back onto his back, pulling his angel slightly with him so he could rest his head on his boyfriend’s chest and nuzzled his nose in his soft, dark streaks.

“I’ll be right here the whole time, I promise, okay?”, he murmured a little while later when Castiel kept fidgeting, his whole body still rather tensed up, “you’ll feel better afterwards, I’m sure”

“O-okay”, the angel muttered into Dean’s chest.

“That’s right”, the hunter yawned silently after he’d shifted into a more comfortable position, still clutching tightly onto his angel until he dozed off to, “I got ya and ‘m not planning on letting go of ya again, anytime so”

They would have to talk about a lot later and it would take a lot more time for them to get back to (relatively) normal but as long as Dean got to hold Castiel like that at the end of the day and the angel, even in his sleep, kept on clinging onto him like there was tomorrow, Dean thought, they would be alright in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it (Comments would be lovely ^^)


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